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Hellcat Squadran: Homecoming
This story takes place in 2218 (during the events of Hellcat Squadran: Forces of Destiny). It depicts Natalia Llehctim visiting home for the first time in 47 years. However, the visit is interrupted by another of Nes Ceru's attacks. How much has Natalia improved herself on her journey? The prologue, of course, is narrated by Natalia. Prologue All I've ever wanted was to do what I need to do to protect those I've cared about... 218 years ago, I was born in a tank, in a Brotherhood of Nod Arctic Research Facility. 6 years later, I was liberated by Hellcat Squadran. It was discovered that I shared DNA with the parents of Hellcat Squadran's Commander. Therefore, he graciously accepted me as a sister. Since then, he taught me all he knew about the world. For the next 165 years, to the day, I stayed by his side. During that time, I grew more powerful, discovering that Nod had apparently made me to gain extraordinary power. It was decided that my potential, my TRUE potential, was being retrained by me staying. So, I left, to find my true potential, to find my destiny. But, before I left, I made Leinad a promise: that I'd return to visit someday... I think that, now, 47 years later, maybe, today, is 'someday'... Chapter 1: Coming Home IceBite was in a deep depression. So far, the war was going foul, with Truth's forces defeating the Coalition at Ivalice, Pulse, and Kamino. To make matters worse, he and May got into their first big fight, mostly about how they never seem to have enough time alone. That all piled together had IceBite feeling very depressed. He was unsure if anything could get him out of this depression as fast as he would have hoped. Then, a person from the communication's array approached him. "Sir, we have received a call for you. The person asked it be connected to your office directly." IceBite sadly nodded to her and returned to his office, to take the call. ---- May was feeling sorry for how she'd snapped at IceBite. She fully understood his duties during wartime, and understood that the recent defeats made it difficult for him to get any free time, but she was just really angry at how little time they had together. Still, she still realized it wasn't his fault, so she was going to find him to apologize. She ran into a person from the comm array. "Hey, have you seen IceBite anywhere? I need to talk to him." The woman from the comm array replied, "Yes, I just told him he had a private call that was sent to his office. He's heading there now." "Thanks," May responded and she ran off. When May got there, she heard IceBite inside. However, rather than sounding depressed like she remembered him being earlier, he seemed excited, almost joyful. A moment later, he came barging out of his office. "Hey, Leinad, what's going on?" Excitedly, IceBite exclaimed, "It's Natalia, she's coming to visit and she'll be here any minute!" ---- IceBite was immediately in the Hanger where Natalia said she'd be landing in. With him was Adriana, May, and Tory, all of which eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Hope's Shard. However, as the sound of the Hope's Shard approaching sounded, Sean and Elle entered the hanger. "What's going on?" Elle asked, before the Hope's Shard arrived, hovering over the hanger. "What the fuck is that?" Sean asked as the Hope's Shard lowered into the hanger. Moment's later, after touching down, the hanger lowered, and coming out, looking almost like she did when she left, was Natalia. Natalia ran forward towards IceBite, who ran to her and the 2 hugged. "Natalia, it's so good to see you again!" IceBite said. "It's good to see you too," Natalia responded. Sean, upon seeing the seemingly-10 year old girl that he'd heard so much about, said in surprise, "THIS is Natalia...?" He was shocked to see how young he was. He also questioned IceBite's resolve by letting her on the battlefield. When IceBite and Natalia stopped hugging, IceBite asked, "So, what brings you to this sector of the galaxy? How are things on your end? I know I've sent you what's recently been happening here, but what about your end?" "A lot. I've actually hunted down a few threats to the Coalition you've probably never caught word of. Ever heard of Vladitor? Shao Kahn? Vilgax?" "No..." "Well, not a threat to anyone here anymore." "Well, that's good to hear. That 'Shao Kahn' guy definitely sounds threatening...Anything else happen?" "Yes, actually, I've gained all new powers, too!" "Well, good for you kid. You know, it's nice to see you here again..." "I know...say, you still have my old room, still?" "Yes, it's just like you left it. Let me take you there. The base itself's been remodeled a few time, so it may not be how you once remembered it." IceBite then lead Natalia out of the hanger, chattering on about what's been happening since the last time he updated her. ---- "So, you really did take out Tartorus, finally? Good, I know how much trouble he caused you." "Yes, and this time, I destroyed all trace of him: his body, his soul, EVERYTHING. There is absolutely NO way he's coming back." IceBite was leading Natalia through the refurbished base, to her old quarters. Along the way, the duo ran into a few of the members of Hellcat Squadran that Natalia knew from way back when: John-117, Ash Ketchum, Sergeant Avery Johnson, and others. Finally, Natalia reached a door that looked different than the others: somewhat older, manual open...her door, just the way she left it. She entered the room, set her baggage down, and turned on the light. Sure enough, the room was in fact as she had originally left it, although with a small layer of dust. She'd been many places in her travels, but, coming back to her old room truly felt like coming home again. "So, isn't it like you remember it?" IceBite asked. "Yeah...it is..." Natalia responded, wistfully. IceBite knew she was clearing remembering the old days, back even before the escalation of war caused by the arrival of the Decepticons, then the war with the IgR. "...So...make any new friends during your journey?" IceBite asked, trying to change her train of thought before she began missing the past. "Oh, right, yeah, there were quite a few individuals that helped me defeat those villains I mentioned." "You mean Vladitor, Shao Kahn, and Vilgax?" "Yeah." "Like who?" IceBite asked. Suddenly, before Natalia could answer, someone that Natalia recognized but couldn't believe was there approached. The individual said to IceBite in semi-broken English, "Meta Knight has arrived. Waiting in his usual hanger." "Oh, right, thanks, Joan," IceBite responded. Natalia watched the armored woman walk away, and when she was gone, she asked, "Was that really Joan of Arc? Man, what have you guys been up to while I was gone?" "Yeah, I know, wait until you meet St. Paul: talk about a blabber-mouth." Both IceBite and Natalia laughed, as IceBite walked to the hanger, Natalia following. When they reached the hanger, Natalia looked awed at the sight of the Battleship Halberd...but less-so at the owner, and his 2 companions. "Ah, Meta Knight, good to see you again." "Good to see you too, IceBite," Meta Knight said in a Spanish Accent, "And I guess this young girl is the 'Natalia Llehctim' I've heard so much about. An honor to finally meet you at last: stories of your exploits are...legendary." Natalia seemed surprised that word of her spread like it did. "You really mean that?" "Yes, he does," Sword Knight said. Blade Knight continued, "Collapsing a Black Hole with just your own powers, defeating the most powerful Nightsister in history, and the only Temporally-Powered individual to survive transit through a Rift Storm unscathed." Meta Knight finished, "It's truly an honor to meet you." "Wow...well, thank you...I really couldn't have done it without the others' support..." "IceBite, you told me of her abilities and achievements, but you said nothing of her modesty," Meta Knight responded. Natalia seemed to giggle and blush, slightly embarrassed. Meta Knight then turned to IceBite. "Anyways, I feel it is wise to warn you personally that Nes Ceru is probably planning something. His ship's been spotted in-system, and Blade Knight's homing beacon is still transmitting. Apparently, Blade Knight hid it somewhere he truly wouldn't find it..." At that moment, Blade Knight remembered, repulsed, when he remembered the incident. Meta Knight told him to plant the beacon somewhere Nes couldn't find it. When he snuck around the ship during one of Nes's raids on Kaven Base, he couldn't find anywhere he could hide it, so...he crawled into the ship's plumbing and planted it, and when he came out...he realized he crawled out the toilet. Blade Knight shivered at the memory. "Well, thank you for the warning, we'll keep an eye out," IceBite responded. Then, Meta Knight and his crew re-entered their ship, and left. Natalia then asked, "Remind me: who is Nes Ceru again?" IceBite sighed. "This'll take a while, but I guess I should explain now..." Chapter 2: Visiting Old and Meeting New Friends The next day, Natalia was wandering around Kaven Base. It wasn't long, though, before she ran into a familiar figure. "Something on your mind, kid?" Ryan Ferran asked. Natalia how he usually just got to the point of things. "Oh, Ryan, how've you been?" "Good, good. Haven't seen you around here in a while. How's the trip been?" "Well, been around and beyond the Outer Rim. Usually got a little lonely sometimes, but I've made a few friends along the way. There's this group of kids who play a game similar to Pokemon Battling, I forget what they called it: Bukigen, Bokegun, something like that. They were trying to take down a rogue of one of those creatures, named Vladitor, and I helped them put it down. Then there's this group of ninjas I met who I helped take down this tyrant named 'Shao Kahn'. Finally, there's this teenager with a wierd watch, allowed him to turn into different aliens. I helped him put down his arch-foe Vilgax. And, after each encounter, I discovered evidence that they would have threatened the Coalition in due time." "Well then, you were busy doing important things. Good job, by the way." "Yeah, I still hope to meet them again. Might run across them next time I head out..." "Yeah, maybe. So, what brings you back to civilization?" "Well, I was passing through the Tridus Cluster, and...I was feeling a little homesick. So, I decided to pop by for a visit." "Well, it's nice to have you back, no matter the reason." "Thanks." "No problem." Natalia felt glad that Ryan was the first individual she ran into. Other than individuals in IceBite's inner circle, Ryan's the few who treated her with the respect she felt she deserved. Everyone else either treated her either 1: like a child, or 2: with contempt. Natalia then asked, "So, what's been happening with the whole clan?" Ryan replied, "They've all been doing good. Korra's all grown up, and we've all been living happy lives." "Really? That's good. So, what else did I miss? IceBite gave me some info, but I'd like to hear what he likely left out." "Well, what he tell you?" "The newest war, our new allies, something about a 'rabid clone of Sen', I never got much about that." Ryan replied to Natalia's comment, "Heh, Nes. Crazy son of a bit-. Sorry. Psychopath. He is basically Sen, but with a fraction of the morals and a universe worth of power." "What's his deal?" "He thinks Sen is weak and his bloodline deserves to die. Basically, he's commiting genocide against him and his family." "You mean just his family...right? Sen died 58 years ago, last I heard..." "No. Sen's alive. Recreated on somewhere off in who knows where. Also, Nes used to obliterate civilians." "Ok, I'm not sure what to react to first: Sen being alive, or Nes's lack of regard for civilians..." "To heighten your frustration, Leandra was cloned and is walking around the base at this very time." "Really? Hmmm...up next, we can be expecting Zack to be cloned, I take it?" "Already has been. Died by Sen's blade, however." "Wow, what'd he do: nearly kill Holly?" "I forget, it's been awhile." "Well, anyways, how have the Urecs been doing?" Natalia then asked. "Very well, considering. Elle is growing up well, and Holly is getting used to Sen around again." "Last time I saw Holly, she was still depressed over Sen's death. How long's Sen been back? I wouldn't imagine it'd take long for her to be 'used to' his return." "Oh, about 2 years. And you'd be surprised. When was the last time your husband came back to life after 60 years?" "I'll take it that's a rhetorical question..." "Hey, need to take the shots while I can. Anyway, anything you wanted to talk about, I need to go help Raynor. He's in the middle of some calibrations, and I thought I'd help. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." "See you later, Loco." With that, Ryan left, allowing Natalia to continue her wanderings. ---- Natalia waited outside, looking around the base. It had definitely changed since the last time she'd been there: more buildings, more hangers, more defenses. Just bigger and higher tech. Suddenly, she heard a whoosh, and when she looked around for the source, a voice said, "You know, the base is a lot more interesting at ground level." She looked above her and saw what vaguely looked like a blue humanoid hedgehog. "So, you're Natalia. A lot younger than I expected." "And you are?" Natalia asked. The hedgehog held a hand out for her to shake. "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." After a moment, Natalia shook the hedgehog's hand. Sonic then said, "Hah, I've heard quite a bit about you. I mean, collapsing a Black Hole, that takes a LOT of power!" "Thanks..." "Well, gotta run, hope to see you around..." With that, Sonic ran off. Natalia was left to wonder what was up with that hedgehog. He seemed nice enough, if not a bit...hyper. She then slid down back to her entrance to the facility, and decided to head to the training area. She didn't want her skills to get rusty. Chapter 3: Questioning The next day, Natalia realized she hadn't seen Holly yet. She knew that Holly knew she was there, but was probably too busy to respond. So, she decided to go ahead and visit her herself. After some asking around, she finally found her way to the Urec household. She knocked on the door. After a few moments, Holly answered the door. "Oh, Natalia, it's so good to see you again!" Holly said excitedly, a small fragment of her old, cheerful self shining through. "Mind if I come in?" "Not at all, not at all," Holly responded. Holly led Natalia into the house. Suddenly, a voice spoke out, "You're STILL ten?!" It was definitely Sen. "Good to see you too..." Natalia said, suddenly feeling unwelcome. Holly then said sternly, "Come on, Sen, it's been over 40 years since she's been home. The least we can do is be hospitable to her." "I'm just surprised. You want a pop or something, Nat?" He sounded sincere enough. "I guess, thank you..." Natalia responded. "Er, root beer, seven up, or Coke?" "Seven up, I guess." Sen tossed a 7-Up over to Natalia, while Holly led her into the living room. Then, Holly said, "Well, I'm sure you've got a lot of stories about your travels. You think you could share a few?" "I guess. Any you're interested in?" Sen didn't respond, but was listening. Holly instead responded, "I heard about some guy named 'Shao Kahn', was it? What was the deal with that guy?" "Oh, him, major egotistical maniac. Tried to fuse several realms together to try to make some kind of super-kingdom. The last realm left was this realm similar to Earth. One of his adversaries was a clan of Ninja known as the Lin Kuei, some kind of cold-loving ninja led by a Ice-Elemental Power User called Sub-Zero. I somehow met up with them when Shao Kahn damaged the Hope's Shard." "Sounds a lot like my ex..." Sen responded, jokingly refering to Shao Kahn. "Anyways...where was I...Oh, right, Sub-Zero. He basically explained to me the whole situation and I agreed to help him. One of the first threats was some Psycho-Cyborg, named Sektor. With the help of the Hope's Shard, which Jooranok was able to somewhat repair, his ship was easy to take down. Then, after some time, we managed to track down Shao Kahn. Man, the guy sounded worse than PALPATINE!" Natalia then went into detail on the battle against Shao Kahn, as Holly and Sen listened. ---- It's been almost a week since Natalia arrived. She'd visited her old friends, and met some of the new members. She was on her way back to her room, when, suddenly, she heard an argument. The voices sounded like IceBite and Sean. The first statement she could clearly hear came from IceBite. "...Like I said earlier, it was never really my decision." Sean angrily responded, "You're her brother! If anyone can talk some sort of sense into her mind it's you!" Natalia immediately realized they were talking about her. IceBite answered, "You don't think I've tried. I don't deny her powers, but everytime she entered battle I feared for her safety. However, I made a promise to her that I'd let her live out her life as she wanted. And this is what she chose." Natalia immediately remembered the day IceBite gave her that promise. Now, she felt guilty at how much trouble it is getting him into. "She also chose eavesdropping..." Natalia was startled by this. She'd forgotten Sean's Aura Powers. Immediately, she used Chaos Control to flee the scene, without being noticed. IceBite responded, startled, "What the..." Then, suddenly he got worried. He thought to himself, "How much of that did she hear?" Chapter 4: Confrontation On the balcony outside her room, Natalia tumbled through her mind what she eavesdropped from IceBite's and Sean's argument. She never realized before how worried she made IceBite...but he always handled it so stoicly. And Sean...he seemed intent on believing she was too young for battle, even probably hearing about her exploits...Suddenly, an individual entered the room, her powers recognizing the individual as Sean. "So, you're here to argue with me now? Wasn't arguing with my brother enough?" she asked him. "If it was, would I be here?" "Rhetorical question...I will warn you now that nothing you say can turn me from the path I've chosen for myself..." "Well, if you die out there, it's his fault to me." "If it's ANYONE'S fault I die, it'd be mine and my own. I know what I'm getting into, I know the consequences." She left a small pause before continuing, "You think I think this is a game? I know what war is, in my 218 years of life, I've known nothing but it." "Game? I don't recall you and your perfect little family watching one of your siblings die in front of you. Shot through the chest, shattered his breastbone and punctured both lungs, while I sat there and WATCHED." "You think I don't understand...I'll tell you something...something I told no one but my brother...in 2066, I found a small Nod camp. There, they had created a little girl. Their purpose for her: to be my replacement in their plans. However, they couldn't empower her, so they readied her to die. I took the camp down and rescued her. I then hid her in one of the buildings. She became like a sister to me. After a while, I came to start calling her Serena, just to call her something. She and I were close...until Kaven Base was attacked 64 years later...the building she was hiding in...was demolished in the fighting...I...didn't get there in time to save her, and there was nothing Leinad could do either..." To Natalia's shock and disgust, Sean laughed bitterly. "That's...FUNNY to you?!" she said angrily. "No, oh no. I'll tell you something only myself, sister, and girlfriend know. When we were stranded on a planet, and while we were there, I was forced to kill my father. Don't you dare suggest I consider this a fucking game, GIRL." He stormed out, knocking over a picture as he went. When Sean was out, Natalia rushed over to collect the pieces of the picture: a collage of the people she cared most about, including the now-dead Serena. Natalia immediately came to the realization, "I hate Sean..." ---- Sean was wandering back home, his thoughts still on the argument with Natalia. He was just so angry with her, he could barely concentrate on anything else...at least until, suddenly, he heard a loud smash nearby. Rushing into a nearby courtyard, he turned to see Elle being forced into the wall by Force Lightning. Sean acted fast: he fired an Aura Lance in the direction of the Force Lightning...giving Nes Ceru cause to dodge and halt the attack. Still angry with the argument with Natalia, his mindset was set to kill, and, as far as he was concerned at that moment, Nes being here just gave him a target he could vent that anger on without rebuking. He continued launching Aura attacks as Nes, keeping Nes moving. After a moment, however, Nes just released more Force Lightning, dropping Sean and Elle to their knees. However, before he could kill them, 2 lightsabers appeared and struck. Nes snarled, "Are they trying to let me win?" Sen attacked first, Holly following shortly after. Nes, however, was clearly overpowering them. When Nes knocked Sen to the floor, Holly thought fast, bringing one of the nearby security devices to life. However, Nes easily defeated Holly and killed her techno-organism creation. However, the battle wasn't done yet. Soon, the pieces of the creature began to rise, enshrouded in purple wisps, and fly at Nes, who managed to dodge them. Then, IceBite and Adriana joined the fight. Nes targeted Adriana first, stabbing her hands and knocking her over. He unleased his Biotic Shockwave, with the intention of taking IceBite down, but, with a complex combination of Ectoplasmic Intangibility and Sonic Resonation, he managed to just barely dodge the brunt of the attack. Nes then readied his lightsabers, as IceBite drew Vesracolian. The 2 the clashed in a sword duel. However, IceBite, clearly weakened by his previous maneuver, soon fell. Then, Nes used the Force to slam him into a wall. By that time, the closest downed fighter to him was...Elle... She slowly tried to get back on her feet, but Nes used the Force to keep her down. "I wish I could have taken you alive. We could have had such fun." He then prepared to strike...suddenly, like a gust of wind, Nes was knocked to the side. Similarly, all his fallen opponents seemed to teleport near each other on the other side of the courtyard. "For christ's sake, what now?" he exclaimed. Suddenly, a pillar of energy apeared between him and his fallen opponents. When it cleared, it revealed... "Natalia?!" Holly called, as the perpectually-10-year old girl appeared. "What are you doing here?!" IceBite called to her, "This foe's beyond any of us, get out of here!" Natalia just looked back at them, then to Nes. "If you want them, Nes Ceru, you have to go through ME!" Suddenly, her Aura became visible as she charged power. "Ah, Natalia. I have heard much of you." "Then you should know why you should walk away. Now..." From the sound of Natalia's voice, she sounded ready for when the s*** will hit the fan. "Or what, you will kill me like you killed her?" Natalia immediately knew he was mis-interpreting what happened in 2130. "You got it wrong. She only died because I wasn't fast enough...too limited. Now, I've been training, working to better myself." Then, she shrouded one of her arms in Aura Energy. Elle and Sean could immediately recognize the Aura Strike being charged. "And now...I will ensure I am never too late to save some one again. I challenge you Nes Ceru. En guarde!" Chapter 5: The Warp-Time Prodigy Natalia wasted no time. When her Aura Energy was at peak strength for the Aura Strike, she announced, "Chaos...CONTROL!" Suddenly, in a flash of blue, she disappeared. Then, like a creature flying rapidly with claws extended, something started slashing at Nes with repeated Aura Strikes. The thing then stopped, skidding to a halt a few feet away, revealing it to be Natalia. "I've been practicing new techniques. That's one I call: Saberwind..." "A fascinating assault. A pity it is so wasted." "I am led by no one. I go where my will, my soul, and my conscious does...And it belongs with those I call family. A family that I WILL shield from any threat!" She then charged a pair of both Aura Lances and Chaos Spears. The effect created a pair of blade-like gusts of wind ripping the ground up towards Nes. Nes dodged the first one, but the 2nd was aimed to where it knocked Nes into the air. "That's one I call Stormwave." Nes then landed on the roof behind her. "And yet if you truly became free, you could make your so called family's lives so much easier! Who knows, maybe you could see her again!" Natalia, facing the ground in front of her, responded, "I miss Serena...but I have moved on...she will remain alive in my memories..." She then turned around, and, pointing at Nes, she continued, "So don't insult me by trying to tempt me with false promises! I know my path, and neither you, nor anyone else, will divert me from that path!" She then charged energies into her hands. "Chaos...RIP!" Then, a Chaos Spear, intertwined with an Aura Lance, shot up at Nes. Nes was struck by the attack, which sent him flying. The attack, however, was slow enough for him to avoid...It was almost as if he didn't make any effort to dodge. "I decide my own future, a future of pain, of war...but of satisfaction as well. My life has been a never-ending struggle...and I wouldn't have it any other way..." She immediately readied for Nes's attack. Suddenly, Nes appeared, walking towards her. Natalia waited patiently for him to make the first move. Then, when he was close enough, Nes let out a punch. Having readied for it, Natalia then said, "Nice try..." she then disappeared, but her voice still sounded, "Time for you to face...Temporal Triad." Suddenly, 3 Natalias appeared in a triangular formation on the roofs around Nes. Each one released a large Aura Sphere, before disappearing. Natalia appeared in the courtyard again, as the spheres closed on Nes. However, he raised a Biotic Field to block the Aura attacks. "Fascinating, child," Nes said. As he said that, Natalia charged more energy. Then, she swapped to a meditative pose, 2 fingers on her right hand along the bridge of her nose, her left arm stretched out to her left, and 2 fingers on her left hand pointed out. The 2 on her left hand began to charge with energy. Nes didn't move, as Natalia announced, "Chaos...STORM!" She swiped her left arm across her torso, and, as she did so, a massive blast of Chaos Energy slashed the land, where her fingers pointed. However, Nes not only survived, he was seen wiping dust and soot off. "Almost as disappointing as Elle." Nes then released a massive blast of Force Lightning, as Natalia began charging her own energies. When the lightning neared, she began, "Chaos..." Then, she seemingly blinked out. Nes snickered. "Go ahead. Strike me down out of your anger." Then, Natalia blinked back into existance...mere inches from Nes. "BLAST!" Suddenly, both Natalia and Nes were consumed in an explosion of energy. Moments later, Natalia back-flipped out of the explosion. When she landed, she responded to Nes, "Not anger, just the will to do what needs to be done." When the dust cleared, Nes stood up, laughing. "Come on, child! What have you really got?!" Natalia scowled. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this..." "Hit me! You know you want to!" Natalia then stood, and started charging energy. "I don't do this because I want to...I do it because I have to...Now, I know I have to distort time itself to fight you...I didn't want to do this...but...Any chance of Victory you had will disappear in an instant." Suddenly, time and space began to warp around Natalia, as she tore at the Fabric of Time around her. Suddenly, she became engulfed in a column of distorted time. As a joke, Nes asked IceBite, "She like this at family reunions?" IceBite then asked Natalia, "What are you doing? Summoning you form, the Draekon?" "No, IceBite. My form's evolved..." Suddenly, the column disappeared, and Natalia with it, openning a rift into a realm of distorted time. Suddenly, 5 long necks and dragon-like heads appeared out of the rift. "This Nes..." "Will be..." "Your end..." "TEMPOROS..." "HYDRAN!" The massive elemental form emitted an equally massive roar, testimate to its fearsome power. "I wouldn't do that, what with the sniper aiming at Adriana's head." Immediately, Natalia began searching for the sniper, keeping one head on Nes. "If you kill me, she dies, hit me and I live, she lives." Natalia immediately sensed the sniper, and she said, "Amateur..." She sent 4 of her heads to coil around the others, while her middle head lunges at Nes. When the head closed with him, however, he merely calmly side-stepped. However, the head continued to a tree behind him...a tree that was immediately reduced to dust. "At least make it painful, little girl." Natalia snarled, "Get out of my sight!" Suddenly, Nes walked towards her, turning into black and red smoke, soon disappearing entirely. Then, Natalia flashed with light, and, a moment later, she returned to her human form...and fell to her knees. IceBite ran over to her, to see if she was ok. Chapter 6: "...Time to depart..." Sean was inside his house. It was a couple days since Nes's most recent incursion. After hearing what happened, he was slightly grateful that Natalia saved Elle from Nes, but was still seething mad at her for the argument that they had before the battle. Suddenly, Elle called up to him. "Sean, it's Shadow the Hedgehog. He says he wants to talk to you." Sean came to the door. Shadow said to him, "Come with me, there's something we need to talk about." Sean sighed and followed. When they were somewhere alone, he asked, "What did I do?" Arms crossed (like usual), Shadow said, "I heard about the argument you had with Natalia, and some of your general opinions on her. And there are some certain things I believe you need to know about her." "I could use a laugh, go for it." Shadow said, his voice going more serious than usual (if that were possible), "You think it's a laugh that it's an undeniable fact that Elle owes her very existance to Natalia?" "I've already acknowledged that. Yes, I am grateful for that. She is still however, a bitch," Sean responded. "I do not refer to Nes's attack a couple days ago. I mean, without Natalia, Elle would never have been born." "Let me guess, saved Holly's life at some point before she was pregnant with Elle?" "More times than I've ever been told," Shadow responded, nodding, "It looks as though, however, you've made up your mind..." "If you ever find out what I wound up telling her, you'll know why. Not even Claudia can dig it out of my mind, so you know it's hard knowledge." "Then I guess there's nothing more I can do here...I was hoping that this issue between you could be patched, but it looks as though this rift will remain." "It'll be patched the day IceBite marries May." "Then I hope this rift does not consume your friends...as well as yourself. Natalia is leaving soon, and she'll be saying goodbye to everyone. Until next time, Sean Renner. Chaos...CONTROL!" With that, Shadow disappeared in a blue flash. "I'm really gonna have to get used to that," Sean responded, still unfamiliar with Chaos Control. He left the convo feeling annoyed that someone would try fixing things between him and Natalia. As far as he was concerned, nothing ever would. ---- Natalia stood near the Hope's Shard as the visiting Genetic Heroes Goliath and Arborus loaded fresh supplies onboard it, and Jooranok readied for launch. Natalia then shared hugs with her family and Holly, as well as saying good bye to the others. Finally, Arborus announced, "The supplies...are all onboard." Natalia took that as her cue. She stopped mid-way on the ramp, grabbed one of the pistons, and said, "I believe it is time to depart..." "So," IceBite asked, "What're you up to next? What does you journey hold for you?" Natalia responded, "You never know, but Jooranok's heard rumors of a world being seiged by Sentient Naval Vessels. And, you know, someone has to warp them into a Black Hole." "Well, just be careful, and try to come back alive," IceBite responded, in a caring voice. Natalia nodded, almost tearing up. "See you guys later..." Within minutes, the Hope's Shard was ready to lift off. Natalia said to her Assimilator Co-Pilot. "Alright Jooranok, time to go." And, soon, the Hope's Shard was shooting toward space. As he watched from below, IceBite, not for the first time, feared for her safety. However, he remembered the other day, when she became one of the few individuals to not only survive, but defeat Nes in a one on one duel. And, he finally accepted: Natalia could handle anything the Galaxy could throw at her. Category:Stories